


The Loser

by ThatDamnKennedyKid



Category: Naruto
Genre: "Coming out of the closet", Boruto wants Sasuke, Break Up, Divorce, F/M, Hot for stepdad, M/M, Naruto's already tapping that, Post-Gaiden, Post-Post-Canon, Societal change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-24 13:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4921378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDamnKennedyKid/pseuds/ThatDamnKennedyKid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke could see it - had from the time the boy sought him out. Boruto was crushing on him big time and he almost felt bad. The boy didn't want to stand in his father's shadow, but Sasuke's heart already belonged to the man. </p><p>Inspired by this: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=51975538</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Loser

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=51975538
> 
> Go check it out. Might give this story more context.

It only came as a surprise to anyone not directly involved. 

He had to give it to her - Hinata just pursed her lips and nodded slowly when Naruto told her. He'd watched from the next roof, part of him regretting having acted on his feelings and the other half glad that Naruto would be free from the falsity his marriage had always been. Tears came to her eyes, but through them, she smiled bravely, the true depths of her own feelings shining through. 

"I had hoped . . . " She started, trembling instead of crying. " . . . that you might find happiness here with me. I knew better, but I hoped." She walked up to him, hands delicately cupping his scarred cheeks. "I only ever wanted to see you happy, Naruto. Maybe that greatness that I dimmed in your eyes will come back now."

He could tell Naruto was crying now, even with his back turned to the window. He wrapped his arms around his soon-to-be-ex-wife and held her tightly. "I do love you Hinata. And I'm sorry I'm such a shitty husband by leaving you. But you've always been one of the closest people to my heart. And there is no way I can repay you for the beauty you brought into this world for me."

She held him back, tears finally falling. "I love you too, Naruto. Go be happy."

* * *

Sakura was considerably less mature. 

Sarada knew it wouldn't go well. Her mother was nothing if not extremely possessive and to find out . . . Well, it was safe to say she wasn't going to be happy. 

"What the hell do you mean?!"

"I can't continue like this. It's not fair to either of us to pretend this anymore. I should have told you no when you brought up marriage the first time. I'm not happy here, never was, and you're a ghost. What happened to the kunoichi who faced down Kaguya?"

"She's right here, like I've been all this time! You're never even here! How do you know this won't work?"

"Because I don't love you - I never did and I tried to tell you that."

"Not even the slightest bit?"

"Sakura, you're a good friend and I love and value you for  _that_ , but you don't set the sun in the sky the way he does-"

" _HE?!_ "

Sarada flinched, pressing herself further into the doorframe. 

"I lost you to a  _man_?"

"I tried to tell you this back  _then_! I'm gay, Sakura!"

"Sasuke! Don't say things like that! You can get killed for that."

"Please. Tsunade changed the homosexual/bisexual policies for Jiraiya long before Pain. I can't get punished for my heart, but its only now that society's caught up to the rules."

Sakura seemed a little calmer. "Can I ask who it is?"

"It's Naruto. It's always been Naruto."

Sarada escaped the house before it collapsed, but didn't stop running until she was in the Hokage office. 

* * *

By the time Sakura finished publically hospitalizing Naruto, Sasuke had removed all traces of himself - what little there was - from Sakura's home. He placed his things in Naruto's old apartment and walked over to the Hokage office, where he knew Naruto would insist Shikamaru take him. Sakura ran the hospital and he didn't want to see her again until the red mist faded and she started to see reason again. 

"Did you see what he did to Mom?" 

He didn't stop walking, but Boruto fell in step beside him anyway. 

The blonde snorted. "I hate him. He's such a loser. I hope he dies for making her cry."

"By that logic, Sarada is selling my soul as we speak."

Confused and curious blue eyes - so similar to those of the man he loved - snapped up to him before their shade darkened, tinted by betrayal. 

"You're . . . ?"

Sasuke nodded.

* * *

Sarada had thought the Hokage office would be the best place to hide until her mother had calmed down. 

She hadn't expected Naruto to limp in, bruising, bleeding and limping. Shikamaru just shook his head, turning away from the Hokage, who sat himself down on his chair, letting his eyes fall closed and just rest. He left, huffing about "troublesome" families breaking up his day. 

Long minutes rolled past before Sarada decided to creep closer. "Hokage-sama?"

Naruto blinked an eye open at her, a melancholy smile coming to his lips. "I suppose it's too late to jutsu myself a better look?"

She winced. "A little. Was this my mom?"

He sighed. "Yeah. I deserve it, though."

"Why?"

"Well, she finally convinced Sasuke to settle down and here I come along and steal her husband right out from under her."

"Finally convinced?"

Naruto sighed again. "I let too much slip nowadays."

Sarada pursed her lips. "Well, it's not like I didn't see it coming, I suppose. He is affectionate, kinda, with me but never with Mom. Doesn't even hold her hand."

"Sasuke and I have been in love with each other for decades." Naruto admitted softly. "People would react badly, however, if either of us to out ourselves as gay, let alone for each other. Plus, it gave us a chance for children. It meant more for Sasuke - last of his clan and all - but it was unfair from the start. I didn't love Hinata like she deserved and Sasuke didn't love Sakura at all."

"So what does that mean for us?"

"Hmm?"

"You and me? Will we be . . . family now?"

Naruto smiled and sat up, pulling Sarada between his legs for a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him - someone she could always trust and depend on, even in the darkest of times. 

"We were always family, Sarada."

* * *

Boruto had been silent their entire walk to the Hokage building. He was angry, bitter, resentful - 

But he had never seen his father's face light up the way it did when Sasuke walked into the room. He stood, Sarada quiet off to his side, and walked up to him, the smile on his face luminous like the sun itself. Something Boruto had never seen him give his mother. That bastard didn't deserve this kind of happiness. The rapidly healing bruises and lacerations were small consolation in the face of that radiance. 

As natural as meeting rivers, Naruto sealed his lips over Sasuke's, arms slipping under the black cloak and wrapping snugly around him. It was chaste, but beautiful, like they were finally released from chains into the daylight. Sasuke's hand was clenched in Naruto's Hokage cloak. 

"I liked you better with longer hair. You should let it grow again."

Naruto only beamed, squeezing Sasuke closer. "And what? Look like you?"

"Hn. Dobe, it's so you don't look so old."

"Shut up, Teme. At least I didn't take hair tips from Madara."

Boruto moved in then, one hand resting on his father's arm and the other gently stroking Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke made a humming sound in response, casting his visible eye over to the younger image of the man in his arm.

"The loser gets you too, huh?"

"Of all the people in my life that have called me a loser, it always hurts the most when you do it." He met his father's eyes over the top of Sasuke's head. "Funny how the two men I love the most are the same ones who believe in me least."

Sasuke nudged his chin with his head. "Don't say shit that isn't true. I believe in you."

"Now. We had to blow off our arms before you started."

"Hn."

"You lying sack of shit." Boruto whispered. "You're the most selfish asshole on the face of this earth. I hope you die."

There was suddenly a firm slap across his cheek, startling him away from his crush and his father. "Ow! What the-"

Sarada grabbed him by the collar. "How dare you! How  _dare_ you?!" She slapped him again. "Do you have  _any_ idea how lucky you are? I just saw my father for the first fucking time three months ago! My mother worked all the shifts she could at the hospital so I never wound up seeing her most of the time. Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have a family at all? A mother and a father who love you, who you  _know_ and who would do  _anything_ for you. You want to see someone who's selfish?! Take a look in a fucking mirror!"

She pushed him back, a snarl on her lips and tears in her eyes. Naruto pulled away from Sasuke, resting a hand on her shoulder. 

"C'mon. There's no need to fight over this." He tried to reach out to Boruto, but the boy shrugged him off. "The truth is that I am being incredibly selfish. Leaving Hinata and being with Sasuke is completely selfish."

"Naruto-sama!"

"Naruto, that's not-"

He held up his hands. "It is. I've broken up two families, given three children a broken home. And I'm sorry about that. I almost wish that I could keep up the facade, give you the sense of home you want so much, but I'm all out of pieces of myself to give up."

Boruto stared at him, torn. 

"I've given so much of myself for the sake of this village, let my own happiness fall by the wayside to give Hinata and Sakura their happy endings. I'm sorry that I don't have the strength to avoid it anymore. Neither Sasuke or I were unfaithful to your mothers, only to ourselves. I can't help that I just don't love her like-"

"It's killing him."

The teens both turned to look at Sasuke, who was frowning intensely. 

"What?" Sarada whispered. 

"It's killing him." Sasuke repeated. "You don't know him like I do. He used to be the sun itself - never ending energy, radiant like a billion stars. His smile was enough to turn midnight into noon. Naruto didn't  _get tired_. I've watched this job, this village, drain the very essence that made him year by year. He's never been selfish. I've always been the selfish one, dragging him all across the world chasing me. And I'm being selfish again - I want the man he used to be back. The only place he's happy is by my side and I have no problem taking him from you. Someone in this life needs to give him happiness and peace. I'll be damned if it's anyone but me."

"Sasuke-sensei . . . "

Sasuke fixed him with a cool look. "I love him, even if you don't."

"Naruto-sama . . . "

He smiled wearily. "I'm sorry Sarada. I can't keep this up anymore."

She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. "It's okay, Naruto-sama. I want to see the real you too."

Sasuke flicked Boruto's nose. "And I'm the only one who can call him a loser. He's my loser."

 

 


End file.
